Emotional Morning

I am not sure why I cried when she pack her clothes.
I am not sure why I find it hard to breathe when she left the door.
I was muted as the song Iris from Goo Goo Dolls played from the G4's crappy speakers.

I am not really sure what happened.
It was like a blurred slow-shutter footage.
The only thing I can be sure of is that I am not good enough to make her happy.

As the door closed and the lips kissed, the song ended.
Speaker muted.
I muted.
And so was the world to me that morning.


sigh...

Multi-Monitor

What happened when you have one generic AGP graphic adapter, and one generic PCI graphic adapter. You get FOUR monitor support at your dispossal!


Ok here's the story:

I was having two-monitors setup in my workstation for years. But the idea of MORE monitors start bugging me for the last two years. By luck and some negotiation I managed to have a Matrox Parhelia (support for 3 monitors). BUT IT DIDNT RUN.

I got it second hand along with a computer in a steal buy. Although the previous owner claim that it was working before, the fact is it didnt work in my place. Considering the price I have to pay for the comp and that Parhelia, I dont have a room to argue --I got it all at SGD800, while the brand-new Parhelia cost SGD670. Adding the fact that Matrox doesn't have a representative office in Singapore, trying to find a place to service it is a useless effort --Having to ship it to US and get it fix is out of the question.

So the dream of having more than 2 monitors is ceased.


Some enlightment:

I got stumbled upon a multi-monitor community website oneday. From there I found that mixing up AGP and PCI is actually possible. I was thinking about it before, but never had a budget to try it --what if it failed? what should I do with the PCI card? what can I buy if I dont buy that PCI card?


A good month to start 2007

Good projects, good money, got enough to spare for a PCI graphic adapter. A quick browse at SimLim Square (a local electronic mall), I found myself a PCI graphic adapter. SGD700. I cant remember the brand, I cant be bother by it. Some hi-end professional PCI graphic adapter which definetly out of my league.

The next two hours...
After asking every single shop at SimLim and receive various answer I kinda give up. Until I found a store that sells a PCI graphic adapter within my budget range. SGD103. Inno3D GeForce5200 PCI. 128MB with DVI port + VGA port + TV out. PERFECT!

The next month...
Monitor doesnt come in cheap. I was using 2 blurry 17" CRT from different brand not for a sentimental reason, but because i dont have choice. Until NOW (muahaha haha)
So I got my self two 17" LCD monitor branded S-DOTS for SGD250 each. Yes I can only afford an obscure brand made in china. The one with Samsung brand is about SGD300. When you bought two.. there will be 100 bucks different which I rather spent on a gigabit-switch (5 port).


The Setup

So everything is bought. Now how we are cooking.
Here's the list:
- 1 generic AGP card w/ GeForce5500 128MB. DVI + VGA/TV-out (SGD 99)
- 1 generic PCI card w/ GeForce5200 128MB. DVI + VGA/Tv-out (SGD 103)
- 2 LCD monitor. 17" 1280x1024 (SGD 250 each)
- 2 CRT monitor. 17" (collected from friend for free)

Installation was a breeze. After hooking up the whole thing, and install the driver for the PCI.. and restart.. the whole monitor is there. Displaying my favorite wallpaper: plain-black. A little positioning in windows display property made them sync with the physical position --since my desk is small, one CRT is sit on top of another CRT. Good enough for now.


Conclusion

Multiple monitor setup can be done without an expensive graphic adapter. Since I am not a hardcore gamer, or 3D modeller, or any job that need a mind-boggingly-expensive graphic adapter... the generic graphic adapter works fine for me.